Big One for One Drop: Salomon Leads; Superstars Ivey and Negreanu Among Big Stacks After Day 1
The final event of the 2018 World Series of Poker has attracted some of the biggest names in poker, which comes as no surprise with a price tag of $1,000,000 for The Big One for One Drop. A total of 24 players ponied up the seven-figure buy-in and 19 of them bagged up chips after 10 levels of one hour each.
Rick Salomon ended up at the top of the counts with a stack of 11,445,000, and the American already has two final table appearances in this very event to his name. In 2014, Salomon finished fourth for $2,800,000 right here in Las Vegas, and followed that up with a third-place finish for €3,000,000 in The Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza in 2016.
Poker superstar and 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey follows in second place with 10,365,000 and all-time money leader Daniel Negreanu bagged up the third-most chips with 8,100,000.
In a field filled with the who's who of poker, other notables such as Dan Smith (7,735,000), Erik Seidel (6,835,000), Talal Shakerchi (6,745,000), Dominik Nitsche (6,550,000), Jason Koon (6,540,000), Christoph Vogelsang (5,680,000), Nick Petrangelo (5,300,000), Justin Bonomo (4,715,000), Stephen Chidwick (4,550,000), Fedor Holz (3,220,000), and Adrian Mateos (3,100,000) all advanced to Day 2.
The registration remains open until the cards get back in the air on Monday, July 16, 2018, at noon local time, and the action recommences with blinds of 50,000/100,000 and a big blind ante of 100,000. All new additions to the field will receive 50 big blinds and the penultimate day is scheduled to play 10 levels or down to the final six, whichever comes first.
Big One for One Drop Winners
| Year | Place | Winner | Country | Prize | Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Las Vegas | Antonio Esfandiari | United States | $18,346,673 | 48 | $42,666,672 |
| 2014 | Las Vegas | Dan Colman | United States | $15,306,668 | 42 | $37,333,338 |
| 2016 | Monte Carlo | Elton Tsang | Hong Kong | €11,111,111 | 28 | €24,888,892 |
Action of Day 1
The cards were barely underway when a four-million-chip pot emerged and the early action continued to provide plenty of entertainment for the nearby rail in the Rio All Suite & Casino. Daniel Negreanu won a big pot off 2014 Big One for One Drop champion Antonio Esfandiari and David Peters became the first elimination of the day after his flopped top two pair ended up second-best to the turned flush of Adrian Mateos.
In the fifth level of the day, Esfandiari got his stack in with ace-king and Jason Koon had him dominated with pocket kings. The six-high board provided no help for Esfandiari and he joined the rail without anything to show for the day.
After the dinner break, Isaac Haxton clashed twice with Cary Katz and ended up second-best with king-queen against the ace-queen of Katz to become the third casualty of the tournament. Phil Ivey then switched gears and sent Bryn Kenney and Jake Schindler to the rail in quick succession to jump over 11 million in chips.
One table over, Justin Bonomo was involved in plenty of big pots and his stack took a roller coaster ride after doubling Erik Seidel. In the final level of the night, Bonomo ended up all in and at risk with queen-ten suited against the ace-king of Nick Petrangelo and a ten in the window kept Bonomo in the running.
Adrian Mateos also avoided an upset just before bagging and tagging. The Spaniard was the first to double up his stack, but the early rungood soon turned into a nightmare and the youngest-ever three-time WSOP bracelet winner was suddenly among the shortest stacks. Mateos ended up all in with king-queen against the ace-jack of Talal Shakerchi and spiked a straight on the river.
The remaining 19 players will return at noon local time and some other big names are expected to join the action before the cards get back in the air. Make sure to tune back in as the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all you need to know in the most-expensive poker tournament of the year.
